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Religion Back
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Page Scholars
take a fresh look at religions in India
by Sandeep Datta New
Delhi: Scholars from India and abroad will take a fresh look at religion and
try to evolve a framework for interpreting it at a conference which will commence
on Monday. The joint effort is being organised by the Ghent University of Belgium
in cooperation with the Kuvempu University and the Karnataka Academy for Social
Sciences from Karnataka. Too much effort at 'liberalisation' and making religion
'secular' is not the answer to current problems and efforts to avoid violence.
What is required for Indians is to understand the true significance of religion,
said Dr. Balagangadhara Rao of Ghent University of Belgium, who is going to give
the keynote address at the conference opening on Monday, January 21, said at a
press meet here yesterday. Dr. Rao said: "We have a rich past. How our traditions,
culture and religious way of living have been in the past and how they hold significance
even in the present time that needs to be understood. We will make an attempt
to do so at the conference" "The way religion is today explained or understood
in India is actually how the Europeans interpreted it. Ours is an attempt to understand
the religion in India by evolving a new concept that is distinct from the way
Europeans viewed and expressed it for us, the Indians," Professor Dr. Balagangadhara
Rao added. According to Dr. Rao, "If you don't understand your past, and you don't
understand who you are today, you may not be able to understand what you are going
to be tomorrow". The
purpose of the cluster of conferences is to find an answer to these questions.
The international conference is claimed to be a sincere attempt to explore an
alternative approach and discover new forays that can draw more research students
in the study of religion in India. If necessary the conference would explore to
evaluate the importance of religion in India and would not desist from revisiting
Vedic culture or beliefs as has been in practice in the past. The concern for
religious studies emerged with the observation of some scholars that in the present
time not many intellectuals were coming forward to do studies on religion. Similar
conference would be held every year in Belgium, the United States and the rest
in India. When asked about the utility of studying religion for youth instead
of concentrating on the study of modern sciences, he said: "It is useful to have
happiness in one's life. After achieving money and fame, all of us, as human beings,
wish to be happy, and for this, we need to study religion." In the first conference
being held here the focus would be on topics like, "Are there native religions
in India," on colonialism and religion, the caste system and Indian religion.
Of the total 250 to 300 expected participants in the discussions, at least 220
will be Indians belonging to all walks of life which include researchers, and
individuals from universities and people from Delhi to partake in the attempt
of rethinking about religion in India. Among the invited speakers that have agreed
to participate are: Prof.David N.Lorenzen, Prof.T.N.Madan, Prof. Timothy Fitzgerald,
Prof.S.N.Balagangadhara, Prof.Purushottam Aggarwal, Prof.Richard King and Prof.Geoffrey
Oddie.
-Jan 19, 2008
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